Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This time to Pleasanton, CA, the last stop on the Fly Fishing Show tour for '09. We'll be calling the Alameda County Fairgrounds home for the weekend, installed in the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska booth for the duration. It's gonna be tough, but nobody at The Pebble Partnership is going to wait for our sense of loss to subside, so we're gonna put on the game-face and do what needs to be done.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood, stop on by the booth to check out the latest developments in the fight to save Bristol Bay. We're going to be showing the RedGold documentary every day at 4pm in one of the "adventure theaters", and we've got some cool schwag available for a small donation towards the cause.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Huge props to Señor Kerr for rowin' us around the coast and generally having way too much fun for 3 reasonably well-adjusted dudes. Thanks for opening your home to us, and for makin' the bitchin'est deer tacos north of Ciudad Juárez.

Big Ups to Hick for doin' all the legwork for the Red Gold showing in PDX...you made the trip worth it, man. Next time we'll be sure to get less popcorn, more chairs, and twice the beer.

Thanks to Deerhawk for the work in the PDX booth - you are the man, and we'll be in touch about that AK roadtrip.

Bacon, we owe you, brotha. That one grab was worth a whole day in the moon boots. Now that you have shown us a little of yours, we'll be more than happy to show you a little ours.

Back to the present.

For a month or so, the Pooper has been slowing down, sleeping a lot more, and generally showing a lot more signs that his 16 years are rapidly catching up to him. About christmastime, he was still boogieing up and down the stairs like it wasn't nothin' but a thang, and he still went into puppy mode when his stuffed animals came out of the basket.

His back legs don't work anymore these days, and he gets a little restless when he lays on one side for too long. Eating is no longer his favorite thing to do, and it's all we can do to get him to drink a little water every now and then.

This feels like a slow-motion accident, an inevitable open road crash that you can see coming a long ways off, but are incapable of avoiding. If you have ever lost a pet to old age, you can probably understand this emotion. Having buried a few family dogs in our day, we know what is coming, but we are still powerless to change the outcome of the wreck. We know it's coming and we know it's going to hurt, but we also know that we survive, scarred and shaking, but alive.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

This time we're on our way to beyootiful downtown Bellevue, WA. For the 3rd year in a row, we're donating our time and tongue to the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska at the Fly Fishing Show, Feb. 6-7-8 at the Meydenbauer Center. Joining us in the booth for the 2nd year in a row will be the man, the myth, the legend...AKA Whitey. We will also have Ratbone on hand saturday, lending his time and considerable charisma to help save Bristol Bay.

From there it's off to a rendezvous with Senor Kerr of Forks, WA, and if the weather cooperates, we're all gonna sneak around a few flows, see if we can't find a willing dance partner or two, hopefully of the native persuasion...

...Then a quick hop down to Stumptown, OR, and another Fly Fishing Show, this time at the PDX Convention Center, Feb 14-15. We're gonna pre-funk at the headquarters of the Oregon Chapter of The Sierra Club on Friday the 13th, throwin' down 2 good flicks on Bristol Bay - Equilibrium and Red Gold. Word around the campfire is that Jefe is gonna provide beer n' snacks, so if you are in the neighborhood, drop on by.

Bacon has also (grudgingly) agreed to take us fishin' later that week, so we fully expect to be trussed and blindfolded in the back of a pickup chuggin' somewhere within the continental US, taggin' along with a fella reputed to be among the fishiest. As we have pointed out many a time, we ain't the smoothest dude with a two-hander, so we're hopin' to measure success by not hookin' him, his dog, or wrappin' us all up in a big macrame of skagit line and feathers.

If you are at either the shows, stop on by the booth to check out the latest updates on Bristol Bay, check out the daily screenings of Red Gold, or just stop by and say Hi.

Updates as they happen, and as we figure out the 'pooter - we have a laptop now, but that doesn't make us E-wizards.